we're back !! 14 days trip report
Sep 2nd, 2005, 08:30 AM
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we're back !! 14 days trip report
Those who gave me their precious support in July until mid August on this forum for our first trip to Alaska probably will remember that we are an european family of 2 adults and 2 kids aged 10 and 4 and we are independent travellers. Well, after this great experience we had, I feel I would give first a couple of general suggestions for future travellers on their first trip to Alaska:
- buy the Great Alaska Toursaver booklet for 2006, which mainly have 2 for 1 discount coupons which can be used for some lodgings, flightseeing, cruises and much more.
In general, but mainly for lodgings, you must mention these discount coupons at first time of reservation request as there might be some blackout dates and restrictions on limited rooms available with this promotion, even though the hotel has still availability. Check www.toursaver.com for full details on all deals and order, or you can buy copies once in Alaska at CARRS or SAFEWAY stores, at customer service desk. We paid it $ 99,50 but at the end we saved almost $ 1000 !! By the other side, most of the offers expire in early september so this booklet would be almost useless after that time !
- do not overplan or do not fix your itinerary and lodging too strict. Allow possible exra nights from one location and the next. Frequent weather changes might require you to re-schedule your activities having to add extra nights in one spot before going to the next, if you do not want to leave that spot completely disappointed, especially for first attractions as Denali NP !! Allow at least 3 or 4 nights over there or you risk to see nothing !! If I went back I would not fix again almost every night lodging of our trip, as there are also plenty of motels or B&B anywhere
- mentioned prices are those applied to us in this period (they might change) and include taxes. Usually children stay free in parent's room, or with a moderate surcharge.
8/16 we started our alaskan adventure on the Alaska Airline 3:00pm flight Seattle-Gustavus/Glacier Bay, with a few minutes stop in Juneau for transit passengers. We arrived at 5:40pm. We had fixed 2 nights at Glacier Bay Lodge, in Barlett Cove, very nice location. A colourfull sunset was waiting for us !! The lodge is the only one in the NP ($ 201.00/night the standard room)and meals at hotel restaurant are therefore a bit overpriced
8/17 whale watching cruise
In the morning we had some good and easy strolls around the lodge in the forest. At 13.30 we joined our first activity: 3,5 hours whale watching cruise from Gustavus, booked locally at lodge frontdesk. It was really incredible !! Once we reached the mian spot in Icy Strait, off Pt Adolphus we were surrounded by at least 8 humpback whales at one time, some alone, some in small groups going back and forwards. The show with their tales was fantastic ! 3 of them did also a jump outside the water ! The guy of the boat also put the hydrophone into the water and we could hear all their sounds !! We will never forget that day !! We also saw here our first bald eagles
8/18 full day Glacier Bay Cruise.
For the highlight of this area we could not pick a worst day for its foggy and rainy weather conditions !! Visibility was almost zero above tree level on the sea !! It takes almost 3 hours to approach the final destination, the Mergerie Glacier, near the border with Canada. Once we reach Russel Island the captain decides whether going left to Johns Hopkins Glacier or straight to Mergerie Glacier, according to the quantity of floating ice on water and safety conditions.
At that time the visibility was a bit better, but still rainy and we could see the glacier even though we remained at safety distance. A crew member started to make magic movements with his hands and arms to provocate a kind of calving. People were laughing at him for that ! As miracle, once he stopped, an entire side of ice fall down into the water!! It was very huge, almost the entire height of the glacier face !! It was fantastic !! Nobody could believe it ! Captain had to turn on engines immediately and to face the front of the boat towards the glacier in order to avoid unusual side wawes !! That show definitely compensated the bad weather of that day and at the end we did not come back disapppointed. However, due to the high cost $ 170 each adult, children half price, but 1 adult free for us with our toursaver 2x1 coupon, and the long boat transfer time to the glacier I am not sure I would recommend this cruise, if also other glacier cuises are already planned in Kenai or Prince William Sound. The calving show is in general almost the same and what we could see at Mergerie Glacier was an unexpected and unusual surprise. On the way back we could stop and see the Johns Hopkins Glacier as well but at very longer distance.
By the other side our visit to Glacier Bay was anyway worth as the best spot for whale watching, if compared to south-central Alaska.
Alaska Airlines operates the outgoing flight at 6:08pm from Gustavus to Anchorage so we did it the same day. On the way from the lodge to Gustavus airport a black bear crossed the road in front of us!!
As The Long House Hotel in ANC was fully booked we stayed at Best Western Barratt, also very overpriced at $ 156.71 for what is offered ! For those who plan at least 2 nights in Anchorage check toursaver 2x1 promotions available for some lodging in order to make a better deal !
8/19 Anchorage-Talkeetna (2,5 driving hours)
Unless the departure time from Anchorage to Denali is late in the afternoon I do not recommend to overnight in Talkeetna, as the only reason to be there is the flightseeing tours on Mt MkKinley, circle, or summit or glacier landing, which are however offered also from Denali. I would suggest to spend more time at Denali and skip Talkeetna. However it is also possible and not strenuous to leave Anchorage in the morning, having lunch and flightseeing from Talkeetna and then proceeding to Denali in the afternoon or evening on same day. As I had fixed the lodging here in advance, we stayed at Eye of Denali Inn, booked through Talkeetna Travel. The Denali suite is really very spacious, with a bedroom with one double bed and a very large living room with a double sofabed for our kids and large kitchen and plenty of additional room for kids to play. Also the outside setting of the log house is really nice. We strongly recommend this place, just one minute drive before the village, just crossed the railroad on the left, on the riverbanks. $ 126.00 only, including selfmade breakfast food in the fridge. As we had to stay there anyway because of the fixed lodging, I changed the schedule of our Mt McKinley flightseeing that I had fixed for the 22nd from Denali and we had it the next day 20th from Talkeetna, instead, so we could have more time for Denali on 22nd !! Talkeetna Aero Service, 2x1 toursaver discount coupon $ 225.00 summit tour.
8/20 Talkeetna-Denali
The flightseeing at 11:00am was simply fantastic !! No clouds at all; from the plane we could see the whole mountain and surrounding glaciers. We had much more fun than expected, then 2,5 hours drive to Denali. Bad surprise. At least 3 fires in the park and many more north of Fairbanks had made the visibility again almost zero ! Smoke everywhere !! We joined anyway the free shuttle bus to Savage River at 5;00pm but we could see almost nothing of the park ! For the lodging we had fixed 2 nights (Denali deserves much more !!) at Denali Park Hotel, some miles north from the entrance, near Healy. Then I discovered that an hotel in Healy is included in the toursaver 2x1 promotion. It is the Denali North Star Inn, Healy, but it is placed in the Interior & Far North section of the booklet instead of the Southcentral Alaska section, together with other lodging with toursaver (fully booked).That's why I had missed it ! Denali Park Hotel is not bad at all but I still wonder which is the difference from that hotel and an average motel: no restaurant and all rooms on ground floor with external access !! $ 127.33
8/21 7:15am Shuttle Bus to Wonder Lake, 11 hours.
We were very concerned and disappointed. Still smoky and rainy on this day !! Alaska Range was not visible at all !! We were missing the best part of Alaska !! Near WL we saw a grizzly bear down the road and everybody suddently woke up from the boring and sad trip. We stopped and proceeded on the road a bit further as we were following the bear until it was on our side of the bust, in the grass. As he realized that we had come close to him he stand-up on his back legs !! very Impressive !!! then he fall down again and left the area !! I could catch the video of his movement on two legs and the day started to switch into a great day, despite the weather !! No view at all of Mt McKinley from WL. On the way back to the exit we saw a mom bear with 2 cubs, then a red fox right in front of us in the middle of the road, which stayed there for at least 5 minutes fixing us and not allowing any vehicle to proceede. At the end she went away. That long time allowed everybody to take videos and shots in abundance !! Then another grizzly bear on the upper side of the mountain, some caribous and mooses.
We had seen nothing of the parks in terms of mountains and valleys, but we were very satisfied for the wildlife that we had seen !
8/22 Denali-Girdwood
I had fixed the next 2 nights at Alyeska Prince Hotel and Resort and the following 2 nights at Holiday Inn in Seward with 2x1 toursaver discount, but that morning the air was so clean and washed up from the rain of the previous day that we could see Mt McKinley entirely out !! No clouds at all !! Blue sky and it seemed we could touch the Alaska Range mountain with our hands on the other side of the valley, but we had to go to Girdwood !! No way !! decision was not taken immediately as we wasted some time to figure out what to do, but at the end I made it !! We went again to ticket counter at WAC and we joined another bus ride into the park !! Unfortunately we could take only the 1:00pm bus to Fish Creek, returning at 9:00pm !! as no other buses were available to Wonder Lake. I called Alyeska Prince Hotel in Girdwood that we would have come anyway but in the middle of the night and to keep our reservation. So we did !!
It was awesome !! We saw everything that we had missed the previous day, even though not much wildlife !! At the end of the 2 days we completed our Denali experience in an excellent way: first day for wildlife and second day for snowcapped mountain viewing and Mt McKinley. We left Denali at 9pm and I checked in at Alyeska in Girdwood at 2:10am, 5 hours and 10 minutes which is a miracle considering that the drive was almost completely under heavy rain and strong windstorm !! But wife and kids slept all the way. At the end of the second bus ride (total 19 hours in 2 days) our little daughter had said: this trip on bus was so short !!! .... so I did not feel guilty for the decision that we had taken to ride the park 2 times in 2 days !!
8/23 Girdwood-Whittier
A Prince William Sound was not fixed in advance but anyway planned. Once again rainy weather did the rest and we did not have our cruise. We just took the car to Portage Lake but not riding the cruise, we saw a stream with running salmons nearby and visited the wildlife conservation center (2x1 toursaver)
8/24 Girdwood-Seward
Weather was definitely better. Forecast was rainy but we found partly cloudy with lots of sunshine breaks ! We decided to go to Whittier through the tunnel and to take the 1:30pm Glacier Adventure Cruise with Kenai Fjords Cruise that we could not take the day before (2x1 toursaver coupon even though we had not reserved it in advance). It was nice as we could see sea-otters for the first time. Our kids were very excited for such large variety of wildlife. After all the trip to Alaska had wildlife viewing as priority just for our kids.
We arrived at Seward in the evening.
Holiday Inn $ 189.00 again with 2x1 toursaver coupon was a big deal !! just 2 minutes walk from the Nortwestern Fjords Cruise (2x1 toursaver)dock the next morning !
8/25 Northwestern Fjords Cruise
This time we were lucky for the weather. My concern was the open ocean water conditions for this full day cruise. Forecast was rainy but again we found only partly cloudy and sea water remained calm all day !!
We saw a lot of puffins, sea-lions on a rock with orcas in front of them waiting for hunting !!, again sea otters and at least 3 humpback-whales. Also the calving activity of the Northwestern Fjord was particulary nice and ininterrupted. It seemed the glacier did not want us to leave !! but then we said: ok now it is over with tidewater glaciers !! We had enough !!
8/26 Seward
We decided to add one night at Holiday Inn just to relax in Seward, Exit Glacier trail from parking lot (seen mom moose with calf)and Sealife Center (2x1 toursaver). What made that day all but relaxing was an unexpected early morning drive to Anchorage to purchase an extra battery for my video camera, which was almost over and we had fixed the bearviewing floatplane trip from Homer on 28th !! the highlight of the whole trip to Alaska !!
I left Seward at 6:30 and returned at noon with the battery, after having checked at BestBuy in Dimond Center which was closed and opening only at 10.00 so I went to Batteries Plus, International Airport Road !!
I am happy that I made it !!
8/27 Seward-Homer
Nice road, full sunny day !! spectacular view of the mountains on the other side of the strait !! Wonderful view of ths Spit from above with all the surroundings mountains. 2 nights fixed at The Heritage Hotel, far below our expectations, the lowest quality level we have had in the whole trip, below an average motel room. $ 137.39 for the standard room in the main section.
8/28 Homer-Katmai bearviewing floatplane trip, 8 hours
We had fixed with Emerald Air. A lot of expectation for this trip, especially for my older son. We had saved the best for the last, as our return date to Europe was the 30th !! My wife and little daughter did not join us. We met at the dock on Beluga Lake at 8:20 as agreed, light rain !!
Chris gave us the terrible new: the trip is cancelled due to heavy rain in Katmai, but what was worst is that they had no seats for the next day, 29th our last day in Alaska !!
You can imagine my son, 10 years old, all this trip to Alaska mainly for this tour !! to see bears very close in their freedom. She told us they would have refund us but it is of course not was we wanted. I promised my son we would have come again next year just for this trip + adding a polar bear viewing trip from Barrow !! So he was a bit less frustrated and disappointed. We drove to their office on the Spit for the refund. It was still closed. I went a bit further on the road and found the Bald Mountain office on the left. I stopped the car and told my son: let's go inside. As I had already checked their website from home before leaving I knew aleady almost everything of their tour, its cost and the location, so as I entered the office, after the usual greetings I directly asked: do you have 2 seats for tomorrow morning ?
The lady told me they have 2 planes, one with 6 seats and one with 9 seats, total 15 seats. Then she said: let me see how many are booked for tomorrow. She started counting by voice one by one and, you won't believe it, she stopped at the number of 13 !! Who says it is an unlucky number ??
We were so happy !!! We got the very last 2 seats on the very last day of our vacation !!Of course it could be it might have been cancelled also the next day but at least we had one more chance !!
8/29 It was not cancelled, it was great !!
Again we were lucky 2 times!! forecasted rain was wrong! we had partly cloudy with lots of sunshine. Temperature around 60. We even did not need any heavy layer ! No rain at all in the whole day !
We landed on water in Geographic Bay, southernwest coast of Katmai, we had lunch at 11am then with a boat aht the mouth of the stream, where 7 bears, adults and cubs, were fishing salmons on low tide waters !
In the day we saw at least 20 bears and up to 9 at one time. Some of them came so close to us that I was starting to be a bit scared for my son, but we were just sitting and watching them doing their fishing jobs, diving and jumping into the water, coming out with big fishes in the mouth, then playing with each other, cubs with their mom !
When my son told me: it is the best experience of mi life, I realized that it was a miracle to be there on that day !!
At 6pm we drove back to ANC, where we arrived at 10;00 exhausted but really happy !
The Long House Hotel has very extra large double beds and extra long rooms !! It was the perfect lodging to say goodbye to Alaska
8/30 ANC- back home
after some shopping at Safeway in Dimond Center we returned the car and flew back home at 3:00pm via Frankfurt over the North Pole, another great experience to get shots and videos with perfect clear sky !! That's an ocean of ice, mountains and snow !!
See you soon, Alaska !!
p.s. sorry if this report is too long, a book I would say, but I really wished to share our experience with you all, in the hope that some hints can be of some helps also for others. For that, I will be happy to give some further contribuition on this forum if needed !!
- buy the Great Alaska Toursaver booklet for 2006, which mainly have 2 for 1 discount coupons which can be used for some lodgings, flightseeing, cruises and much more.
In general, but mainly for lodgings, you must mention these discount coupons at first time of reservation request as there might be some blackout dates and restrictions on limited rooms available with this promotion, even though the hotel has still availability. Check www.toursaver.com for full details on all deals and order, or you can buy copies once in Alaska at CARRS or SAFEWAY stores, at customer service desk. We paid it $ 99,50 but at the end we saved almost $ 1000 !! By the other side, most of the offers expire in early september so this booklet would be almost useless after that time !
- do not overplan or do not fix your itinerary and lodging too strict. Allow possible exra nights from one location and the next. Frequent weather changes might require you to re-schedule your activities having to add extra nights in one spot before going to the next, if you do not want to leave that spot completely disappointed, especially for first attractions as Denali NP !! Allow at least 3 or 4 nights over there or you risk to see nothing !! If I went back I would not fix again almost every night lodging of our trip, as there are also plenty of motels or B&B anywhere
- mentioned prices are those applied to us in this period (they might change) and include taxes. Usually children stay free in parent's room, or with a moderate surcharge.
8/16 we started our alaskan adventure on the Alaska Airline 3:00pm flight Seattle-Gustavus/Glacier Bay, with a few minutes stop in Juneau for transit passengers. We arrived at 5:40pm. We had fixed 2 nights at Glacier Bay Lodge, in Barlett Cove, very nice location. A colourfull sunset was waiting for us !! The lodge is the only one in the NP ($ 201.00/night the standard room)and meals at hotel restaurant are therefore a bit overpriced
8/17 whale watching cruise
In the morning we had some good and easy strolls around the lodge in the forest. At 13.30 we joined our first activity: 3,5 hours whale watching cruise from Gustavus, booked locally at lodge frontdesk. It was really incredible !! Once we reached the mian spot in Icy Strait, off Pt Adolphus we were surrounded by at least 8 humpback whales at one time, some alone, some in small groups going back and forwards. The show with their tales was fantastic ! 3 of them did also a jump outside the water ! The guy of the boat also put the hydrophone into the water and we could hear all their sounds !! We will never forget that day !! We also saw here our first bald eagles
8/18 full day Glacier Bay Cruise.
For the highlight of this area we could not pick a worst day for its foggy and rainy weather conditions !! Visibility was almost zero above tree level on the sea !! It takes almost 3 hours to approach the final destination, the Mergerie Glacier, near the border with Canada. Once we reach Russel Island the captain decides whether going left to Johns Hopkins Glacier or straight to Mergerie Glacier, according to the quantity of floating ice on water and safety conditions.
At that time the visibility was a bit better, but still rainy and we could see the glacier even though we remained at safety distance. A crew member started to make magic movements with his hands and arms to provocate a kind of calving. People were laughing at him for that ! As miracle, once he stopped, an entire side of ice fall down into the water!! It was very huge, almost the entire height of the glacier face !! It was fantastic !! Nobody could believe it ! Captain had to turn on engines immediately and to face the front of the boat towards the glacier in order to avoid unusual side wawes !! That show definitely compensated the bad weather of that day and at the end we did not come back disapppointed. However, due to the high cost $ 170 each adult, children half price, but 1 adult free for us with our toursaver 2x1 coupon, and the long boat transfer time to the glacier I am not sure I would recommend this cruise, if also other glacier cuises are already planned in Kenai or Prince William Sound. The calving show is in general almost the same and what we could see at Mergerie Glacier was an unexpected and unusual surprise. On the way back we could stop and see the Johns Hopkins Glacier as well but at very longer distance.
By the other side our visit to Glacier Bay was anyway worth as the best spot for whale watching, if compared to south-central Alaska.
Alaska Airlines operates the outgoing flight at 6:08pm from Gustavus to Anchorage so we did it the same day. On the way from the lodge to Gustavus airport a black bear crossed the road in front of us!!
As The Long House Hotel in ANC was fully booked we stayed at Best Western Barratt, also very overpriced at $ 156.71 for what is offered ! For those who plan at least 2 nights in Anchorage check toursaver 2x1 promotions available for some lodging in order to make a better deal !
8/19 Anchorage-Talkeetna (2,5 driving hours)
Unless the departure time from Anchorage to Denali is late in the afternoon I do not recommend to overnight in Talkeetna, as the only reason to be there is the flightseeing tours on Mt MkKinley, circle, or summit or glacier landing, which are however offered also from Denali. I would suggest to spend more time at Denali and skip Talkeetna. However it is also possible and not strenuous to leave Anchorage in the morning, having lunch and flightseeing from Talkeetna and then proceeding to Denali in the afternoon or evening on same day. As I had fixed the lodging here in advance, we stayed at Eye of Denali Inn, booked through Talkeetna Travel. The Denali suite is really very spacious, with a bedroom with one double bed and a very large living room with a double sofabed for our kids and large kitchen and plenty of additional room for kids to play. Also the outside setting of the log house is really nice. We strongly recommend this place, just one minute drive before the village, just crossed the railroad on the left, on the riverbanks. $ 126.00 only, including selfmade breakfast food in the fridge. As we had to stay there anyway because of the fixed lodging, I changed the schedule of our Mt McKinley flightseeing that I had fixed for the 22nd from Denali and we had it the next day 20th from Talkeetna, instead, so we could have more time for Denali on 22nd !! Talkeetna Aero Service, 2x1 toursaver discount coupon $ 225.00 summit tour.
8/20 Talkeetna-Denali
The flightseeing at 11:00am was simply fantastic !! No clouds at all; from the plane we could see the whole mountain and surrounding glaciers. We had much more fun than expected, then 2,5 hours drive to Denali. Bad surprise. At least 3 fires in the park and many more north of Fairbanks had made the visibility again almost zero ! Smoke everywhere !! We joined anyway the free shuttle bus to Savage River at 5;00pm but we could see almost nothing of the park ! For the lodging we had fixed 2 nights (Denali deserves much more !!) at Denali Park Hotel, some miles north from the entrance, near Healy. Then I discovered that an hotel in Healy is included in the toursaver 2x1 promotion. It is the Denali North Star Inn, Healy, but it is placed in the Interior & Far North section of the booklet instead of the Southcentral Alaska section, together with other lodging with toursaver (fully booked).That's why I had missed it ! Denali Park Hotel is not bad at all but I still wonder which is the difference from that hotel and an average motel: no restaurant and all rooms on ground floor with external access !! $ 127.33
8/21 7:15am Shuttle Bus to Wonder Lake, 11 hours.
We were very concerned and disappointed. Still smoky and rainy on this day !! Alaska Range was not visible at all !! We were missing the best part of Alaska !! Near WL we saw a grizzly bear down the road and everybody suddently woke up from the boring and sad trip. We stopped and proceeded on the road a bit further as we were following the bear until it was on our side of the bust, in the grass. As he realized that we had come close to him he stand-up on his back legs !! very Impressive !!! then he fall down again and left the area !! I could catch the video of his movement on two legs and the day started to switch into a great day, despite the weather !! No view at all of Mt McKinley from WL. On the way back to the exit we saw a mom bear with 2 cubs, then a red fox right in front of us in the middle of the road, which stayed there for at least 5 minutes fixing us and not allowing any vehicle to proceede. At the end she went away. That long time allowed everybody to take videos and shots in abundance !! Then another grizzly bear on the upper side of the mountain, some caribous and mooses.
We had seen nothing of the parks in terms of mountains and valleys, but we were very satisfied for the wildlife that we had seen !
8/22 Denali-Girdwood
I had fixed the next 2 nights at Alyeska Prince Hotel and Resort and the following 2 nights at Holiday Inn in Seward with 2x1 toursaver discount, but that morning the air was so clean and washed up from the rain of the previous day that we could see Mt McKinley entirely out !! No clouds at all !! Blue sky and it seemed we could touch the Alaska Range mountain with our hands on the other side of the valley, but we had to go to Girdwood !! No way !! decision was not taken immediately as we wasted some time to figure out what to do, but at the end I made it !! We went again to ticket counter at WAC and we joined another bus ride into the park !! Unfortunately we could take only the 1:00pm bus to Fish Creek, returning at 9:00pm !! as no other buses were available to Wonder Lake. I called Alyeska Prince Hotel in Girdwood that we would have come anyway but in the middle of the night and to keep our reservation. So we did !!
It was awesome !! We saw everything that we had missed the previous day, even though not much wildlife !! At the end of the 2 days we completed our Denali experience in an excellent way: first day for wildlife and second day for snowcapped mountain viewing and Mt McKinley. We left Denali at 9pm and I checked in at Alyeska in Girdwood at 2:10am, 5 hours and 10 minutes which is a miracle considering that the drive was almost completely under heavy rain and strong windstorm !! But wife and kids slept all the way. At the end of the second bus ride (total 19 hours in 2 days) our little daughter had said: this trip on bus was so short !!! .... so I did not feel guilty for the decision that we had taken to ride the park 2 times in 2 days !!
8/23 Girdwood-Whittier
A Prince William Sound was not fixed in advance but anyway planned. Once again rainy weather did the rest and we did not have our cruise. We just took the car to Portage Lake but not riding the cruise, we saw a stream with running salmons nearby and visited the wildlife conservation center (2x1 toursaver)
8/24 Girdwood-Seward
Weather was definitely better. Forecast was rainy but we found partly cloudy with lots of sunshine breaks ! We decided to go to Whittier through the tunnel and to take the 1:30pm Glacier Adventure Cruise with Kenai Fjords Cruise that we could not take the day before (2x1 toursaver coupon even though we had not reserved it in advance). It was nice as we could see sea-otters for the first time. Our kids were very excited for such large variety of wildlife. After all the trip to Alaska had wildlife viewing as priority just for our kids.
We arrived at Seward in the evening.
Holiday Inn $ 189.00 again with 2x1 toursaver coupon was a big deal !! just 2 minutes walk from the Nortwestern Fjords Cruise (2x1 toursaver)dock the next morning !
8/25 Northwestern Fjords Cruise
This time we were lucky for the weather. My concern was the open ocean water conditions for this full day cruise. Forecast was rainy but again we found only partly cloudy and sea water remained calm all day !!
We saw a lot of puffins, sea-lions on a rock with orcas in front of them waiting for hunting !!, again sea otters and at least 3 humpback-whales. Also the calving activity of the Northwestern Fjord was particulary nice and ininterrupted. It seemed the glacier did not want us to leave !! but then we said: ok now it is over with tidewater glaciers !! We had enough !!
8/26 Seward
We decided to add one night at Holiday Inn just to relax in Seward, Exit Glacier trail from parking lot (seen mom moose with calf)and Sealife Center (2x1 toursaver). What made that day all but relaxing was an unexpected early morning drive to Anchorage to purchase an extra battery for my video camera, which was almost over and we had fixed the bearviewing floatplane trip from Homer on 28th !! the highlight of the whole trip to Alaska !!
I left Seward at 6:30 and returned at noon with the battery, after having checked at BestBuy in Dimond Center which was closed and opening only at 10.00 so I went to Batteries Plus, International Airport Road !!
I am happy that I made it !!
8/27 Seward-Homer
Nice road, full sunny day !! spectacular view of the mountains on the other side of the strait !! Wonderful view of ths Spit from above with all the surroundings mountains. 2 nights fixed at The Heritage Hotel, far below our expectations, the lowest quality level we have had in the whole trip, below an average motel room. $ 137.39 for the standard room in the main section.
8/28 Homer-Katmai bearviewing floatplane trip, 8 hours
We had fixed with Emerald Air. A lot of expectation for this trip, especially for my older son. We had saved the best for the last, as our return date to Europe was the 30th !! My wife and little daughter did not join us. We met at the dock on Beluga Lake at 8:20 as agreed, light rain !!
Chris gave us the terrible new: the trip is cancelled due to heavy rain in Katmai, but what was worst is that they had no seats for the next day, 29th our last day in Alaska !!
You can imagine my son, 10 years old, all this trip to Alaska mainly for this tour !! to see bears very close in their freedom. She told us they would have refund us but it is of course not was we wanted. I promised my son we would have come again next year just for this trip + adding a polar bear viewing trip from Barrow !! So he was a bit less frustrated and disappointed. We drove to their office on the Spit for the refund. It was still closed. I went a bit further on the road and found the Bald Mountain office on the left. I stopped the car and told my son: let's go inside. As I had already checked their website from home before leaving I knew aleady almost everything of their tour, its cost and the location, so as I entered the office, after the usual greetings I directly asked: do you have 2 seats for tomorrow morning ?
The lady told me they have 2 planes, one with 6 seats and one with 9 seats, total 15 seats. Then she said: let me see how many are booked for tomorrow. She started counting by voice one by one and, you won't believe it, she stopped at the number of 13 !! Who says it is an unlucky number ??
We were so happy !!! We got the very last 2 seats on the very last day of our vacation !!Of course it could be it might have been cancelled also the next day but at least we had one more chance !!
8/29 It was not cancelled, it was great !!
Again we were lucky 2 times!! forecasted rain was wrong! we had partly cloudy with lots of sunshine. Temperature around 60. We even did not need any heavy layer ! No rain at all in the whole day !
We landed on water in Geographic Bay, southernwest coast of Katmai, we had lunch at 11am then with a boat aht the mouth of the stream, where 7 bears, adults and cubs, were fishing salmons on low tide waters !
In the day we saw at least 20 bears and up to 9 at one time. Some of them came so close to us that I was starting to be a bit scared for my son, but we were just sitting and watching them doing their fishing jobs, diving and jumping into the water, coming out with big fishes in the mouth, then playing with each other, cubs with their mom !
When my son told me: it is the best experience of mi life, I realized that it was a miracle to be there on that day !!
At 6pm we drove back to ANC, where we arrived at 10;00 exhausted but really happy !
The Long House Hotel has very extra large double beds and extra long rooms !! It was the perfect lodging to say goodbye to Alaska
8/30 ANC- back home
after some shopping at Safeway in Dimond Center we returned the car and flew back home at 3:00pm via Frankfurt over the North Pole, another great experience to get shots and videos with perfect clear sky !! That's an ocean of ice, mountains and snow !!
See you soon, Alaska !!
p.s. sorry if this report is too long, a book I would say, but I really wished to share our experience with you all, in the hope that some hints can be of some helps also for others. For that, I will be happy to give some further contribuition on this forum if needed !!
Sep 2nd, 2005, 01:19 PM
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I was also touched when my son said that 2 times, when bears were very close to us !
Nevertheless, now that we are back and we had that wonderful day he reminded me that I had anyway promised him to come back next year for the polar bear viewing tour from Barrow !!
I was also touched when my son said that 2 times, when bears were very close to us !
Nevertheless, now that we are back and we had that wonderful day he reminded me that I had anyway promised him to come back next year for the polar bear viewing tour from Barrow !!
Sep 2nd, 2005, 06:29 PM
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Fabio,
Nice report and so glad the trip was great. It sounds like you were able to go with the flow to maximize your experience. So all your planning and time spent on the boards asking questions was worth it? Especially glad you got to go to Katmai. I would have been disappointed had we had to cancel our trip last year. Now when do we get to share in the pictures?
Nice report and so glad the trip was great. It sounds like you were able to go with the flow to maximize your experience. So all your planning and time spent on the boards asking questions was worth it? Especially glad you got to go to Katmai. I would have been disappointed had we had to cancel our trip last year. Now when do we get to share in the pictures?
Sep 2nd, 2005, 06:55 PM
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Fabio, I am sorry for the fires and the rain but obviously you and your family are good travellers and know how to make the best of your trips.
Your report was not too long, it was beautiful. I so enjoyed reading it, thank you for sharing. If you are able I too would love to see your photos! Best wishes for many more trips with your family. Your children sound adorable.
Your report was not too long, it was beautiful. I so enjoyed reading it, thank you for sharing. If you are able I too would love to see your photos! Best wishes for many more trips with your family. Your children sound adorable.
Sep 3rd, 2005, 05:05 AM
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What a fabulous report! That is the kind of family travel that will stay with you all for the rest of your lives. Your son will always remember that special flying tour with his father (even if you go back to do another). Thank you for sharing your beautiful experiences in Alaska. 
Sep 3rd, 2005, 09:10 AM
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Thank you all for your kind words !!
I encourage families with children to travel to Alaska as well. We met so few kids around !! Most of the time parents are selfmaking problems machines ! Also many friends of ours have problem to drive 50 miles away from home with kids and limit their vacations to one beach resort !!!!
Just pack your bags and go !! We have been travelling all 5 continents since always and never stopped when our kids were a few months old !
For the pictures I am very sorry to disappoint most of you but I gave first priority to video because wildlife was our first priority and video takes all movements and sounds !
I should have done both but my camera is an old compact type. I brought another one, digital, but with only 1.8 pixel and no zoom !! I saw those 71 shots of bears but are of low quality.
I could not do both at same times, when spotting wildlife !!
But I am introducing my son to videocamera, he already started some parts of video of those close bears and my next purchase is a good digital camera, at least 8.0 pixel and 12x optical zoom or 75-300mm lense to be prepared for our next trip to Alaska !
I encourage families with children to travel to Alaska as well. We met so few kids around !! Most of the time parents are selfmaking problems machines ! Also many friends of ours have problem to drive 50 miles away from home with kids and limit their vacations to one beach resort !!!!
Just pack your bags and go !! We have been travelling all 5 continents since always and never stopped when our kids were a few months old !
For the pictures I am very sorry to disappoint most of you but I gave first priority to video because wildlife was our first priority and video takes all movements and sounds !
I should have done both but my camera is an old compact type. I brought another one, digital, but with only 1.8 pixel and no zoom !! I saw those 71 shots of bears but are of low quality.
I could not do both at same times, when spotting wildlife !!
But I am introducing my son to videocamera, he already started some parts of video of those close bears and my next purchase is a good digital camera, at least 8.0 pixel and 12x optical zoom or 75-300mm lense to be prepared for our next trip to Alaska !
Nov 20th, 2005, 10:05 AM
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I just heard that the new 2006 book is shipping now--earlier than anticipated. There seems to be a very complete listing of offers on the TourSaver website www.toursaver.com of all the activities, tours and accomodations in the 2006 TourSaver Book. It looks like there are lots of activities as in the past, including glacier and wildlife cruises, flightseeing at Mt.McKinley, train trips to Denali National Park and Mt. McKinley, jetboat tours, fishing, hiking, horseback riding and more. Their website has very complete descriptions of each of the offers listed. I understand from the people at the TourSaver that the 2006 edition has more offers than ever. Once you receive your book, each offer page has the reseveration number for the trip or tour or hotel you want to book and a website address to get more information. The book itself has a lot of helpful information about each tour and activity to make it easy to make reservations. In general, the book has vouchers for Alaska's top attractions and the longer you wait to book your reservations on the most popular trips, the harder it is to get the exact dates you want to travel. On the other hand, many of the attractions have a very large capacity and rarely sellout. It is always wise to book early. Hope this helps.
Dec 30th, 2005, 06:12 PM
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Excellent article!! we are going with our 3 kids, 4,8,10 and will be there from aug 17th till Aug 30..very similar to your trip. The only thing booked now is the flightg to Anchorage.
Based on your experience, do you think we should omit a 2 day trip to Juneau/Glacier bay that we were planning to book from Anchorage and leave some extra days as rain days.
We were planning on staying in ANC and making day trips to Whittier for Glacier viewing trip and Seward for Kenai Fjords trip and doing these based on the weather prediction. My question is can you get a place on these tours without advance reservations ( using tourbook coupons).
Another day trip to Talkeetna for fliteseeing ( again using tourbook without advance reservations to ensure good weather)
Then visit Denali for 2 days and Homer/Katmai for 2 days..
What do you think of this itenary and can we get seats on the attractions mentioned using tourbook coupon and no advance reservations?
If anyone can illuminate on this it would be greatly appreciated..thx
Based on your experience, do you think we should omit a 2 day trip to Juneau/Glacier bay that we were planning to book from Anchorage and leave some extra days as rain days.
We were planning on staying in ANC and making day trips to Whittier for Glacier viewing trip and Seward for Kenai Fjords trip and doing these based on the weather prediction. My question is can you get a place on these tours without advance reservations ( using tourbook coupons).
Another day trip to Talkeetna for fliteseeing ( again using tourbook without advance reservations to ensure good weather)
Then visit Denali for 2 days and Homer/Katmai for 2 days..
What do you think of this itenary and can we get seats on the attractions mentioned using tourbook coupon and no advance reservations?
If anyone can illuminate on this it would be greatly appreciated..thx
Dec 31st, 2005, 03:42 AM
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Frankly, I do not suggest you base yourself out of Anchorage and consider "day trips" to Seward and Talkeetna, especially Seward- it is not a day trip.
You definately need toursaver reservations in advance, there will not likely be any walk up space for Talkeetna flights and Renown is a first time operator, but they aren't going to fill their boat will excessive toursaver coupon users either. They use the smallest boats of the three companies that operate the boat tours. This especially is not a day trip from Anchorage.
You need to make your plans and be prepared for the weather, rather than worrying about it. The weather rarely impacts on Alaska activities you have listed, that would go out in foul weather. They would be canceled by the operator.
I would suggest you also consider if your 4 year old will be able to tolerate Denali Park?? At the very least be certain to have games, DVD player and twice the batteries you think you will need if you are taking the shuttle bus into the park. Wildlife is mostly way off and binoculars are necessary- at least 10 power is my recommendation. There is no "out" except being let off the bus on the side of the road.
You definately need toursaver reservations in advance, there will not likely be any walk up space for Talkeetna flights and Renown is a first time operator, but they aren't going to fill their boat will excessive toursaver coupon users either. They use the smallest boats of the three companies that operate the boat tours. This especially is not a day trip from Anchorage.
You need to make your plans and be prepared for the weather, rather than worrying about it. The weather rarely impacts on Alaska activities you have listed, that would go out in foul weather. They would be canceled by the operator.
I would suggest you also consider if your 4 year old will be able to tolerate Denali Park?? At the very least be certain to have games, DVD player and twice the batteries you think you will need if you are taking the shuttle bus into the park. Wildlife is mostly way off and binoculars are necessary- at least 10 power is my recommendation. There is no "out" except being let off the bus on the side of the road.
Jan 3rd, 2006, 02:54 PM
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sorry for late reply but just come back from Spain !
yes, with total 13 days I would save Juneau/Glacier Bay for another trip and would stay longer than 2 days in Denali and around Katmai due to unpredictable weather etc..
I understand your point to make cruises and tours reservation based on the weather forecast. It is not a bad idea but consider that sometimes weather forecast was wrong ! You never know and it might change more than one time in the same day !
BudgetQueen is right: Seward is not a day trip from Anchorage, especially if you join the full day cruise to Northwesternfjord, which I would book in advance mentioning that you hold the toursaver coupon.
Alaska is being more popular year by year, also in the second half of august
sorry for late reply but just come back from Spain !
yes, with total 13 days I would save Juneau/Glacier Bay for another trip and would stay longer than 2 days in Denali and around Katmai due to unpredictable weather etc..
I understand your point to make cruises and tours reservation based on the weather forecast. It is not a bad idea but consider that sometimes weather forecast was wrong ! You never know and it might change more than one time in the same day !
BudgetQueen is right: Seward is not a day trip from Anchorage, especially if you join the full day cruise to Northwesternfjord, which I would book in advance mentioning that you hold the toursaver coupon.
Alaska is being more popular year by year, also in the second half of august
